AMERICAN NOTES: War of Words

One of the casualties of the Viet Nam
War sometimes seems to be the English language. Thus the South
Vietnamese invasion into Laos has evoked some zealously euphemistic
official prose. Although no newsmen were allowed to accompany the
operation, it was clear that Saigon's troops were not only killing
thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers but also taking devastating
casualties themselves, and in some instances retreating in bloody
disorder (see THE WORLD). Pentagon analysts called it "a rearguard
action under medium pressure," and some Saigon briefers spoke of it as
"redeployment"a word that suggests the shuffling of papers from IN
basket...